Maybe it’s this job hunt, or maybe, more likely, it’s my PMM brain in overdrive, but this sales outreach made me feel some kind of way.
For over a month, I’ve been in this automated LinkedIn cadence and haven’t responded. Until today.
The product? An ABM service.
The irony? A 3-second glance at my profile shows I’ve been “Open to Work” since early February and therefore not their target audience.
As a Product Marketer, my job is to enable sellers to tell the right story to the right person at the right time. In fact, I’m passionate about it. Not to be dramatic, but this felt like an assault on my craft. 😅
But here’s the thing: Sales is not for the faint of heart. Right now, many organizations are holding their teams to extreme, often wildly unrealistic quotas. These unrealistic expectations don’t just hurt the brand, they get in the way of people’s livelihoods.
So, I replied to the messages finally. I was not trying to be a Karen about it, I just wanted to share why this outreach wasn’t going to work. To his credit, he responded immediately with kindness and like a human, which he did not have to do. It changed the dynamic so much, he will be the first person I call when I need ABM services.
Here’s what this interaction showed me:
- The Tech Gap: LinkedIn Campaign Manager lacks native “Stop on Job Change” and “Stop After No Response” triggers. Wild considering in an ABM world, the “who” is the actual point. It’s quite possible his cadence began before my job status changed. Here’s a feature request for you, LinkedIn!
- The Enablement Gap: If we don’t give our sellers the right tools to tell our value story, we are setting them up to fail.
- The Empathy Gap: A little human connection goes a very long way, especially when it’s time to consider vendors. 😀 He was not a bot, he was a person doing a tough job in a high-pressure environment.
I’m currently looking for a team that values connection over transactions. If you’re looking for a PMM right now that is passionate about a mission that combines technology, human empathy and storytelling, that’s me! 👋
Side note: I believe GTM needs technology to scale, but fails without human empathy. So while these are my thoughts and my experience, I did use AI to help me proofread and refine the delivery, just like I would when partnering with Content Marketing.
Best of luck to all the sellers and job hunters.
#ProductMarketing #ABM #GTM #SalesEnablement #CustomerObsessed #B2BMarketing #HumanBeings
Erin C. Kennedy 